Everyone seems to have France on the brain lately, but today it wasn’t just because of the Julia Child craze that’s sweeping the nation — the recession was declared over in France and neighboring Germany. While it doesn’t seem that Europe’s good fortune is coming to the States anytime soon, the economy stateside may not be all doom and gloom.

“History shows the deeper the recession, the stronger the bounce. And some people are now wondering what’s different this time around. Why should this time be any different? Even coming out of the Great Depression the U.S. economy did grow quite substantially,” Marketplace senior correspondent Bob Moon reported.

But even with growth in certain sectors, Nightly Business Report put a reality check on any reported comebacks in the job market here in the U.S.

“Just to stay even with the new workers entering the job market every year, the economy needs to produce about 130,000 jobs a month. We’re losing more than 300,000 jobs. To begin whittling down the unemployment rate, you need job growth of around 300,000 jobs a month.”

There’s little consolation for the hard numbers, but maybe the proof is literally in the pudding. If finance follows flavor, this USA Today story suggests that French cooking may be on its way out in the U.S. Is it just a little bitterness over the slow-to-follow-suit economic recovery, or is the economy really making duck a l’orange take a back seat to a good burger?